Japan - thoughts after 5 years

I hate to start out every post with 'time is flying'. But it is. August 2007 is almost over. August is the anniversary of our leaving Japan. August 4th 2002, we spent wrapping up our life in Japan. We paid and disconnected our utilities, dropped of our futons and blankets to be cleaned for the new teacher, and spent our last night in Nippon with a dear Japanese couple - the Yusas. We savored the our last bites of Japanese food, the smells of Japan and fellowship with these sweet people.

August 5th - our seven month wedding anniversary - was our departure day. Even after five years, recalling the faces of the people we farewelled that day and the many experiences we had in Japan, is emotional for me. Our last-this-and-that began at least a month before our departure, making for an emotionally draining time. Last day of school, last AET meeting, last worship service, last festival, last time to pay high toll roads (no tears on that one!), last time with so-and-so. Last English Bible Class. And so on. On that final Sunday - we said our last goodbyes to the AIM girls, surrendered our gaijin cards to the customs officials and before we knew it were taxiing away from the Narita terminal, bound for Sydney, Australia and later the USA. As the plane lifted off that night, there was no way for me to grasp all that had transpired from February of 1999 through August of 2002. Let alone comprehend the fact that these were now just 'memories' and not daily life. Our time in Japan was done.

My years in Japan were very formative and a time of challenges and growth. I experienced many of my 'firsts' as an adult. First job. First car. First time to live alone - just to name a few. Had the difficulties been laid out before me, I never would have accepted the challenge to live in Japan for three and a half years. Had the blessings and joys been laid out before me, I would never have believed they would be mine! What was difficult? Language learning and cross cultural communication. Lesson planning. Being homesick. Being sick in another country and culture. Being misunderstood. Making mistakes. Eating things I thought shouldn't be eaten! Leaving. What was a joy? Making progress in language learning. Success in cross cultural communications. Friends. Worshipping in another language or in two languages at one time. Being told I looked like Meg Ryan. :-) Friends. Dating and later marrying my husband. Friends. The relationship with my Japanese family from high school. Having Japanese food whenever I wanted it . . . I could go on all night.

I had hoped to visit Japan again before this long. But I will continue to wait patiently for that opportunity. I expect to feel some 'completeness' when that time comes. I hope that my Japanese skills can hold up until that time!

'O sewa ni narimashita' to all who were, and still are, a part of that wonderful chapter of my life!


(Nicole with Okaasan, Otoosan, and Tomomi. Tomomi stayed with my family in the 10th grade. I stayed with them in the 11th grade for one month. This family lived about 4 hours away by bullet train. But we visited them and they visited us. They constantly took care of me while I lived in Japan).

Early dating days - Kairakuen, Mito.

Hiking

Our kids

The Sasaki family - we used to babysit Seiya and Tomoya

Jason and his friend, Jun

Need I say more? :)

Chicago

I don't know where July went. August came very quickly and the first week of this month has been kind of crazy. It began with a trip to Chicago. Initially I had declined the offer to attend the National Carlson convention. I agreed to work Friday with a few of the other girls while most of the office attended. And then our family vacation to Gatlinburg was scheduled to begin on Saturday. After these plans had been made, Barbara came to my desk one day and said, 'you need to go to Chicago'. I was a little puzzled but am not one to turn down a trip of any kind. Fast forward though to Wednesday night before the trip and I am at work until 6:30pm on a Wednesday night, frantically trying to wrap things up and wondering why on earth I had agreed to such a quick trip. I even told Jason that I was considering writing Barbara a check for the cost of my plane ticket and not going to Chicago. I thought better of it though and made the trip.

It turns out that the reason I 'needed' to attend the convention was that I was honored as Carlson's 2007 Top Achiever. Needless to say I was completely surprised...and almost had a heart attack on stage. I am not kidding...I thought 'great this is going to be really embarrassing....people are thinking I barely look 18....and I am going to have a heart attack right here on the stage!' But I didn't...it was a fun trip...and there probably won't be too many cool Carlson stories to share in the next 10 months or so.

This job has been a huge blessing in many ways...I've shared some of those thoughts before. I work with GREAT people...and I have some great clients. That pretty much makes my part of the job easy.